Should a "specialist" wizard be demoted?

[Dinkeldog]

Strip him of the specialty and then still disallow necromancy spells in the future. I've had it with munchkin diviners.

 

[Zhure]

Bah. He should just prepare a lot of True Strikes, would that be "diviner" enough?

Greg

 

[Gumby]

You know, you could always just have the God of Magic revoke his Diviner license, as it's pretty obvious he's fraudulently passing himself off as a Diviner. There's got to be rules and regulations.

In my campaign, Diviners get inspected every year by the Diviner's Guild. Nothing terribly difficult, just a little "strip the guy naked, put a blindfold on him, spin him around, and make him walk through a room filled with Glyphs of Warding." If his communes work out ok, then he passes just fine. If not, oh well then, who the hell really cares about Diviners?

Some of the NPCs in the Diviner's Guild are seeking to reduce the risk involved in Diviner inspections by just hiding their keys and seeing if they find them or not, but I think that'd be pretty wussy.

Edit: I meant Glyphs of Warding. Actually, I meant Delayed Blast Fireballs, but Glyphs of Warding make more sense.

 

[Umbran]

Hey, I've seen the department's payroll reports, and I've seen how much more money an underling makes just because he's got a friggin' "specialist" degree that he never uses.

Yeah, well, I told you so.

"Bugaboo," I said, "Bugaboo, you'd make a lot more as a consultant. "

But no. You had to go and join a union shop. "It's all about collective bargaining," you said, "You get job security, and benefits packages. And you get to go on strike. Man, I'm just waiting to go on strike! I don't care what it's about, just give me a cheap sign with a witty slogan to wave around! I'm all over that!"

 

[Numion]

"Yes, I'm a diviner and I can see your future.. I see pain..I see a FIERY DEATH!"

Hurls a fireball.

*KA-BOOM!*

"See, I told ya!"

 

[BryonD]

If he's going to be a Diviner, then he should be paying the school more homage than a token spell every so often.

Why?


It may be that in this case the player just stinks at roleplaying.

But that does not mean that a Diviner character must be obsessed with divination magic to be played well.

Perhaps he really wanted to be an evoker. But the only mage he could find willing to teach him was a diviner. So he sucked it up and learned the diviner's ways as his only path to getting to be able to make things blow up.

 

[Zhure]

Maybe he's such a good diviner, he knows what spells to prepare, and fireball is it.

 

[Kraedin]

Hmmm.

0th
Detect Poison

1st
Comprehend Languages
Detect Secret Doors
Detect Undead
Identify
True Strike

2nd
Detect Thoughts
Locate Object
See Invisibility

3rd
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
Tongues

4th
Arcane Eye
Detect Scrying
Locate Creature
Scry

5th
Contact Other Plane
Prying Eyes
Rary's Telepathic Bond

6th
Analyze Dweomer
Legend Lore
True Seeing

7th
Greater Scrying
Vision

8th
Discern Location

9th
Foresight

A diviner shouldn't be expected to use divinations all that much, honesty. The only spell on that list that I can see casting every day is detect scrying. The rest of these are once-a-week spells, at most, and some are worthless to the extent that they should never be cast, such as foresight or contact other plane.

 

[noretoc]

I think stripping him of his specialty is too easy on him. So he loses one spell/spell level. At the higher level it dosen't matter as much now. I think the high zulkir (Or whatever he is called in your campaign) should come find him, and talk to him. Tell him he is going against all custom, and turn him onto something green and spindly that heals real fast. Then if the player whines, punch him in the mouth. IF he complains, punch him again. Not that I am a violent man, but there is no reason to hurt the sanctity that is the dungeons and dragons game. If he stays with the game, make sure his next character is two leven lower then everyone else, and give him permenant -1 to all his scores, for every character he makes after that. That will show your other players that you don't mess around.

 

[demadog]

I hear ya Bugaboo.

Still, I wouldn't throw all the blame at the player. The rules for specialized wizards are weak. It's a good idea that promotes a little diversity amongst mages, but it's certainly an area that can be improved and expanded upon. Maybe they'll do something with it for 3.5.